How to clean graves

Cleaning grave headstones to reveal inscriptions

This article was written by Frances Sutton from information provided by Deirdre Wogan. Photographs are by Robert Davies.

Why clean graves?

Deirdre learned how to clean headstones when researching the wreck of the Penguin, for many victims of the wreck are buried in the Karori Cemetery. Graves are a record of social history, but over time inscriptions become obscured with plant growth and dirt. To read the inscriptions, you will need to clean a headstone just enough to make the lettering show up. This article describes how to do this.

Where can you find out about who's buried?

In Wellington, the Wellington City Council Archives holds original burial records for the Bolton/Sydney Street, Karori and Makara Cemeteries and cremation records for Karori Cemetery. It is best, however, to contact Karori Cemetery in the first instance, as their database provides a quicker way in to such information.

Permission to clean a grave

Before embarking on cleaning a grave, it is essential to get permission from the sexton of the Cemetery. Even if you are a relative, you need permission.

Take care

Gravestone cleaning requires care. If you get it wrong, you could destroy the inscriptions you are trying to reveal.

Equipment needed

Assemble this equipment:

	A squeeze bottle of weak household chlorine bleach. You can dilute ordinary bleach with about 300 parts of bleach to 700 parts of water.
	A cloth to mop up.
	Secateurs to cut back plant growth.
	A bottle to fill with water to sluice off.
	Rubber gloves.

How to clean a grave headstone

	Approach the gravestone carefully. Do not walk in the middle of the horizontal portion, that covering the coffins. There is a risk it might cave in.
	If necessary, cut back vegetation with secateurs to allow access to the headstone.
	Put the cloth at the bottom of the grave stone, to catch drips.

Grave headstone and horizontal portion

	Spray the dilute bleach over the grave stone. Do NOT rub the grave stone. The lettering is fragile. It may be of lead, held in with small pins; these letters have a tendency to come off.
	Remember that the base of the grave stone may include lettering. Do not rub there.

Spraying dilute bleach onto the headstone

Inscription at the base of a headstone

	Wait about 30 minutes.
	Fill the water bottle at a cemetery tap and spray on to the grave to wash off the bleach solution.
	You may need to repeat the above on several occasions, until the lettering is revealed.
	Don't get every speck of dirt off. The aim is to reveal the writing, not to get a perfectly clean grave.
	If the lettering is engraved and painted with silver or gold, you can touch it up using silver or gold paint made for modellers.